1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to improvements in hand held, electrically heated, hair curling irons and particularly to the structure of the heated tip, to the means for quickly detaching the tip from the handle and to the means of clamping the hair against the heated tip, as well as to other improvements.
2. Description Of The Prior Art
Hair stylists are continuously looking to create new and unusual hair styles.
A need has developed for a hair styling iron which will impart an angular appearance to the outer two or three inches of a head of hair so that the hair may then be confused (i.e., jostled and rearranged) by the stylist to create a new hair style. The iron should have a detachable tip and a hair clamp means permanently fixed to the handle of the iron.
Various conventional electric hair curling irons are on the market. One type has a non-detachable, round, heated, metal tip having a hair clamp means pivotably mounted on the tip. Such an iron is obviously unsuitable since it is only adapted to curl hair to form waves and is incapable of making a sharp bend to the outer 2 inches of the hair needed to impart an angular appearance to the head. Further, such an iron has the disadvantage of being incapable of using substitute tips of various sizes for making tight or loose curls as needed to create the hair style of the operator's choice.
Another conventional electric hair curling iron comes in a kit form in which is provided several detachable heated tips of various sizes any one of which may be connected with a single handle, also provided. While this iron has the flexibility of numerous substitutable tips, this iron is very costly since it provides a biased hair clamp means pivotably connected to the metal tip and, since numerous tips are provided, each tip carries its own biased hair clamp. Further, all the tips are round and can only curl the hair, not angularly bend it. Also the tip, though detachable, is held within the handle by such high frictional forces that to disconnect the tip from the handle it is necessary for the operator to hold the handle with one hand and grab the tip with the other hand and pull the two units apart with considerable force before they will disengage. Obviously some protective covering for the hand is necessary before the operator can grab the tip if the tip has been recently used and is hot.
Applicants' invention fills the aforesaid need by providing a tip which has flat sides positioned angularly with respect to one another and provided with only slightly rounded edges. Further applicants' iron provides improvements to overcome the shortcomings of prior conventional styling irons, as for example, by pivotably mounting the hair holding means to the handle and by providing a single-handed, quick-release means for disconnecting the tip from the handle. Other improvements are also provided.